1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to machines for weight-training and, more particularly, is concerned with a movable weight stack device and support frame for a multi-station weight-training machine.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Weight-training began as an activity largely for athletes and body builders, but has become increasingly popular among the general public at health clubs and in homes. Weights are now used to tone and develop muscles throughout the body. Machines have been developed which utilize weights to exercise just about every part of the human body. These weight-training machines normally use a stack of weights in their operation so that the amount of weight can be varied by each user of a machine. For locations such as health clubs which often have limited space, multi-station weight-training machines have been developed so as to accommodate many different machines for the exercise of various parts of the human body.
Many multi-station weight machines, however, use more than one selectorized weight stack to accommodate each station. This use of more than one weight stack often causes multi-station machines to have more parts and to be greater in size, and thus less portable, more expensive, more dangerous to place in poorly-supported areas and more likely to show excessive wear on stack rods because the stacks may not be perfectly aligned.
Some existing multi-station machines do utilize only one weight stack, but these machines are not efficient in that they entail the use of complicated pulley and cable systems, which often result in crossing over of cables, display less efficiency in lifting the weights of a stack and are more likely to show excessive wear on the cables, stacks and pulleys due to the use of non-direct lifting angles.
Consequently, a need remains for a multi-station weight-training machine which utilizes only one weight stack that is freely movable between different workout stations and does not cause excessive wear on component parts.